


Hanabi

by Angelic_Xia, Night-Mare (Aoife)



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Different Guardians, Pre-Seal Guardians
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-03
Updated: 2018-10-23
Packaged: 2019-07-24 10:16:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16173050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelic_Xia/pseuds/Angelic_Xia, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/pseuds/Night-Mare
Summary: Gokudera Hayami spent 12 years with a loving mother, a doting uncle, and the threat of her Mafia father like the glow of a wildfire on the horizon.Then Lavina dies, and the fire sweeps her away.But not for long.In which Hayami ends up in Namimori with her Zio Shamal, actual survival instincts and self-worth, and teaches a few people How to Life along the way.





	1. Target 0: Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Night-Mare (Aoife)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/gifts).



“Congrats, Lavi, you’re having a son.” His little cousin pales. “What is it, Lavi, tell me. Whatever it is, I can help.”

Gokudera Lavina shrinks back. “Check again, Shamal-itoko. My baby can’t be a boy. Not my firstborn. They’ll make him disappear!” She babbles her story as he runs more tests, and checks genetics - he smiles as the results tell him he can do what he knows she’ll ask. “Change him. If you do it today no one will know my daughter was ever anything but female. Please, Shakkun, please!”

He reassures her before her hysterics - half in Japanese, half in Italian - can carry into the next room. “Hush, Lavi, quiet, or someone _will_ know. I can do it now, and the only thing I’ll tell them, Lavitta mio, is that your hysterics were because of your genetics passing the disease on. They will if your child is female, but I can fix that easy enough at this stage. Now, let my bug bite you and when you wake up, start thinking of names. Your daughter will be born healthy, and perfect, and beautiful, just like you, cuginetta.”

He watches his cousin sleep, and works the changes, and when he steps out a few hours later, it’s with complete honesty that he tells Don Falco of his daughter’s impending, healthy birth in just five months.

What he doesn't tell him is that after this, Lavina will never have another child. Save that for the birth.

* * *

For the first eleven years of her life, she was happy. She lived with her mother in a lovely villa near Mount Etna, and she had everything she wanted. Her Kaa-chan, her Zio Shamal, an amazing education, the piano, a horse. Kaa-chan made her the cutest punk clothes, and Zio even taught her to make dynamite and fireworks, and every so often she and Kaa-chan would cook a huge meal and she’d set off an entire hour of her own fireworks. So what if all she could do without making things explode was chop things up? Her salads were amazing, and she could at least create beauty in a kitchen as long as there was no heat involved. Everyone wanted a cake she decorated, unless she had also baked it. Sometimes things didn’t explode, but … not often.

Then Kaa-chan started dying. She’d always been sick, and she knew that one day, before she was thirty, her Kaa-chan would die. It was one of the first things she remembers being afraid of. But even Zio Shamal thought she’d be at least eighteen and able to take care of herself or married to someone she chose before her Kaa-chan died. And on her 12th birthday, she knew true fear. Her Kaa-chan didn’t wake up from her nap, and Zio Shamal helped her pack up everything she didn’t want to lose, and took it away, and just as he disappeared, _he_ came for her.

And everything changed.

Gokudera Hayami disappeared off the face of the earth, and Belladonna di Falco was brought to her father’s house, and her life became misery. Her sister was gone, Shamal wasn’t allowed to see her, and her father’s wife loathed her.

The bastard daughter. The one only there because Bianchi Falco poisoned four arranged fiancés before running. She wasn’t to be the next Donna, no. She was to be married off to the next Don.

Her punk clothes were gone, she was taught the most disgusting set of rules designed to turn her into a pretty, social doll, and told that if she couldn’t keep her Flames - the legacy of one of her cooking incidents - from reacting she’d be Sealed.

Sixteen months after her mother’s death, four after she ran, she had completed her first contract as Hayato Gokudera, and earned the name Fumante Bomba - The Fuming Bomb.

Three months later, broke, and with people starting to figure out she was female, she received a letter of contract. She was wanted to test the Sun Arcobaleno’s newest student - the latest Vongola heir candidate - and stay on as advisor and part-time tutor in Mafia politics and etiquette, and languages. It was the best chance for her, and attached was a note promising a try at Guardianship, and if that didn’t pan out, a position with the Vongola for life, or a way out of the Mafia, her choice.

She went to Shamal, got her things, and it was with her Zio that she left Italy behind with no regrets and a bit of pocket money from the sale of her horse. The Cavallone stables would take good care of the little dapple mare.


	2. Target 1: Tokyo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uncle and neice arrive in Tokyo and move on to Namimori - after a massive shopping spree, of course!

“Well, Bratling, here we are. Two double rooms, connecting garden, for two weeks.” She can hardly believe it. She’s in Japan. She always wanted to come with… “Oh, sweetheart. I know, I miss her too. She would have loved to bring you. Cry it out, Haya-chan.”

“Why now, Zio? Why did she have to die? Why did _he_ have to try to force me into marrying that … that _slimeball_? I’m not a toy, I’m not some pretty delicate princess, I’m not anyone’s pretty armpiece!”

“You’re a Storm-Cloud, hanabi. Explosive and wild and free, and we saw how well you take to cages. I have to admit the damage report was impressive. But you’re free now. One last job and we can leave all of it behind. I can be just a doctor, you can make fireworks or decorate cakes or do flower arrangements, or even go to a conservatory for that piano of yours.” She does that thing with her forefingers, studying the way the tips bent intently. “Hayami-chan? What aren’t you telling me?”

“He offered me a chance at being a Guardian, Zio.” Her uncle sucks in a hiss. “I’m going to let it happen if I like the Heir. You go be a doctor, Zio. I’ll come with you if we don’t bond, but I won’t make you come with me.” She’s cocooned in one of her Zio’s incredibly rare hugs, and for once she doesn’t mind the way her bust is squished between them, because Shamal is crying into her hair.

“Let it happen, Hayami. It’s the best feeling in the world. I miss it horribly. Enrico was my best friend growing up, and being his Mist was the best thing in my life besides your mother and you. We’ll leave if he tries to force it, but if it happens naturally, oh, Hayami, take it. And if you think I’d leave without you …” She has to laugh. Of course her Zio wouldn't let her go back to Sicily, to the Mafia, without him.

“Zio, you're the best.”

“Of course I am. Now, let’s go see what the food is like here. And then it’s off to your first activity.” She looks at him, puzzled. “Booked you a full spa visit, bratling. You choose everything.” He pulls out a card, matte black and heavy-looking. “And here. This is yours while we’re in Tokyo. I’m basically made of money at this point, and you deserve to go into this looking and feeling yourself. Just buy clothes that fit your bust, not your body, and I can Alter them to fit as long as you can get me photos of how they’re supposed to fit.”

She scowls. “Or you can just fix the issue. I know you can.” She can’t help sounding bitter. “After all, you made me like this.” Her uncle rapidly pales.

“Uhh, you see, I swear, I thought you’d enjoy them, I didn’t know you’d _want_ to be flat!”

She chokes. “Wait, you _actually_ made me like this?! Zio! I just meant female, but you _actually_ put these damn things here?! You absolute asshole! Pervert! Take them away! I can’t believe you!” She snatches the card and stomps out before she gives in to the urge to slap his face off. (She’s always been terrible about Flame control when she’s truly angry) “I’m going to an udon-ya! Text me about the spa. I’ll be back later.”

* * *

She’s surprised when she came back to her room to find her old bedspread and pillows laid out and even Bonekitty sprawled out on her bed, the long grey-and-purple cat with the real bone spine she loves rubbing her fingers down filled with its customary mix of her favorite individual chocolates and smoke pellets and something soft, which turns out to be a big tangle of her mother’s hair ribbons. Her mother had made every bit of it, save for Bonekitty’s spine. She’d missed her weapon, immediately unlatching and enlarging the spine into the familiar Flame-tech bow and wincing at the lack of calluses and muscle strength that make drawing the weapon hard; after so long with no practice it doesn’t surprise her.

She hadn’t expected the comfort of familiarity after the way she’d yelled at the only real father she’d ever known, and after putting her bow back she just lays on her bed and cries for a long while before dressing in the hotel-provided pajamas and falling into an exhausted sleep.

* * *

The second day in Tokyo goes better, starting with breakfast in the shared garden, discussing what her Zio would need in order to ‘fix’ her chest; she’s barely upset when she learns it’s not going to be possible until ‘they’ stop growing. Tea and miso and rice and eggs are a welcome change from the greasy, over-heavy Italian breakfast the Falcos insisted on, and something she’d dearly missed. After they’d just sat for a while, her with her tea and Shamal with his coffee and cigarette, and went through the apartments on offer in Namimori.

After breakfast they take a train to Shibuya and Shamal sets her loose on Harajuku. HARAJUKU! Given how few clothes she actually has, she goes wild, and comes out of the first store alone with five bags, and a complete outfit on. The rest of the day is similar, with her Zio startling a laugh out of her with “I’m breaking my own brain here, but that’s two hundred thousand plus yen I _don’t_ want to see the results of!” after she walks out of a lingerie store with several bags.

* * *

The next few days are largely the same, with various stores and styles, and more good food than she could remember having since her mother died. The rest of their time is spent hashing out their plans regarding the new Vongola heir candidate; Tsuna’s profile is the Young Lion’s work, and therefore suspect. Her cover is more believable than Reborn’s suggestion once her Zio applies for and gets the position of dedicated school nurse; she’s moved to Japan with her uncle, who wanted away from busy hospitals and Italy to raise his hāfu niece after her mother’s death. It allows them to find a good apartment, and a startling question of if they’re Flame-active has them recommended a good apartment building. A confession that they were called in for Hayami to chance a Guardian bond has them settling on a building not far from the very neighborhood Sawada lived in.

A final spa appointment and her Zio’s approval of her weight gain and muscle re-toning has them leaving Tokyo three days early, and by the time they’re moved in, they have a week to observe Sawada Tsunayoshi before entering his life. It’s not encouraging.

Neither is the school uniform, but some subtle Alteration and tailoring and the addition of a corset-obi, some cute socks, and various cute pins has something more or less acceptable to the both of them.

Their second Monday in Namimori, they both enter the school grounds for their first day.


	3. Target 2: Namimori Impressions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First day at Nami-chuu.

The first thing Yamamoto Takeshi notices on that Monday is the very pretty girl in the middle of a fight with Hibari. She’s tall, and has long, silver hair up in a high ponytail, and a dark uniform vaguely reminiscent of Nami-chuu’s, and is WINNING. At least, the bruises showing dark red on Hibari’s face say she’s winning, as she doesn’t have so much as a scratch and isn’t favoring any limb. She has knives that appear to be dull and uses them well, and is very agile. A crowd forms around him, and when Hibari manages to circle around to his side he hisses, “Class, sport-omnivore, and take the crowding _herbivores_ with you. She is a true carnivore.”

At that, he hurries off, taking his crowd with him; he doesn’t want them hurt. But now the girl is even _more_ interesting. He’s always had a bit of a passing crush on Kurokawa, but this new girl is making him interested in a way he's never been before. One look snuck back at the doors catches her in midair, halfway through a backflip, and he blushes as she sticks the landing and he sees Hibari flat on his back, blood coming from a bitten lip and from the corner of his mouth, the underside of his chin red. He hurries to class. At least his is full; he won’t have a chance to embarrass himself academically in front of her.

* * *

He’d spoken too soon. “Class, due to Tanaka-kun’s father being transferred to another branch of his company over the weekend, he has left the school. Because of the empty space in our class, we now have a new student! This is Gokudera Hayami-chan, whose uncle is our new school nurse. Gokudera-chan, please introduce yourself, and then take the desk between Dame-Tsuna and Yamamoto-kun.

Gokudera-chan, the pretty, silver-haired girl from before, bows properly. “Hello, I am Gokudera Hayami. Please call me Gokudera-chan. I will be joining Kyuudō and Ikebana clubs. Please treat me kindly.”

All through the second half of her introduction she had been staring at Tsuna. Not as if he is useless and stupid and she is considering using him as a scapegoat like anyone else would, but with an adorable blush on her still-unmarked face, wide-eyed, as if she has encountered something too adorable for words. She walks forward, eyes locked on Tsuna’s face, and bows to him as she reaches his desk, face now flaming. “Hello, Tsuna-san. I hope we can be friends.”

She’s close enough now that he can see the silk plushie tucked into her non-uniform obi-like belt; a cute silver kitty with pale purple bone markings, obvious dark grey-pink stitching, and embroidered eyes the same color as hers. Dangling from the tan cord around the navy obi are two silver charms: daggers eerily similar to the ones she was using earlier. Her uniform is still Nami-chuu colors, just reversed: navy skirt and jacket bearing tan stripes, a slightly off-white shirt with a thin ribbon tie instead of a puffy bow-tie, and her obi is navy with a tan cord; her socks are navy with tan lace tops. The jacket sleeves are both looser and less puffy, and the skirt is a few inches too long and swings oddly, as if it’s weighted. All of the alterations seem to be tailored for fighting.

His blush reappears, and he can hear shifting and murmurs in three veins. One contains various comments on how she’ll see ‘Dame-Tsuna’ properly in a few days and one seems to be Kyoko and Kurokawa commenting on how ‘Tsuna-kun’ needs someone who can take his side and good for him, he deserves the encouragement of a pretty girl; he agrees with this. (He still wants to get to know Gokudera, and maybe convince her to go on a few dates. She’s very attractive, polite, and can kick Hibari’s ass, let alone his; he knows he has a type, and she fits it very well.)

The third is disturbing. Most of the class’ girls seem to be muttering about his blush, and how ‘that bitch will know her place soon enough’: his fan club getting out of hand again. He’ll let Hibari know later so no one gets too hurt.

“Th-thank you, Gokudera-chan.” Tsuna _is_ kind of adorable, he guesses. Slightly feminine with wide eyes, a delicate face, pretty lips, and pale skin, and the attitude to match. The smaller boy blushes at her next words.

“Hayami-chan, please, Tsuna-san.” She bows again, and takes her seat at the empty desk in front of his and next to Tsuna’s, and the lesson starts. So does his daze; class is boring and the teachers aren’t great. He does wake up enough to notice the note that seems to appear behind Tsuna’s book, and Tsuna's nod to the hopeful girl next to him.

It’s not until lunch that he learns what the note says, when Tsuna leaves it behind to go wherever he usually disappears off to during lunch. Or not. The note is asking him to meet her behind the school at lunch; Gokudera wants to talk to the tiny brunet. He smiles, and he knows his eyes are sharp. Tsuna needs someone looking out for him, and that usually falls to either he or Hibari, not that Tsuna knows that. (And neither of them can watch the too-small teen all the time, to Tsuna’s detriment; maybe with three it’ll be easier. Unless this is a trap. Tsuna seems to have the worst luck and always has, even when they were small and Tsuna would still play with him and Hibari) Hibari’s busy this lunch period, but he’s free, and he won’t let his old childhood friend get beaten up yet again. He takes the note with him; if this is a confession or an attempt to be friends, he doesn’t want it to be interrupted. If it’s not …

* * *

He hears Tsuna arguing with Gokudera as he rounds the school building, and a high, ringing cry of “Then you’ll _die_!” Before he can run to the meek boy’s defense, however, a tonfa crosses his chest.

“Do not interrupt, omnivore. This was arranged. He is … not well. This will help him. He might even remember us, in time. But it will hurt, if we are truly his. Watch, Ao-kun.” He starts at the old nickname, the one Tsuna gave him all those long years ago, before he forgot, and then at the shout and wash of light and heat and _home_ from his tiny friend. Because this is the old Tsuna, the Tsuna of the days of fearlessness and friendship and exploring the woods with himself and Kyoya and that one little redhead he hasn’t seen since before Tsuna got sick and forgot.

“ _Re **born**! Save Hayami-chan with my dying will!_ ” The little flash-bangs the new girl had been throwing around had dropped at her feet at some point, likely when Tsuna refused to fight - he always hated fighting, however good at it he had been, and it seems he hasn’t changed in that - and Tsuna springboards off the wall of the school, orange once again flaring brightly from the bottoms of his feet, and tackles her out of the way, snatching up her knives and little cat on the way. They land several feet away, rolling; the ground under the flash-bangs is toasted darker brown and all the dust and little pebbles swept away.

“See, Ao-kun? Perfectly fine, if uncontrolled. Now, go yell at our new Aka-chan, please, while I keep watch. Maybe I’ll catch the ones who keep breaking the windows back here.” Kyōya - because now that he knows they both want each other and the old Tsuna, the real Tsuna back he can safely call him Kyōya once again - stalks off, as dedicated to keeping the bounds safe as ever, and he stomps over to the pair on the ground.

“The hell, Gokudera! First you act like you like him and then you start throwing fireworks at him? Look at him! Now that the fire-stuff’s gone again he’s shaking! Come here, Tsuna, and put my jacket on too, you must be freezing, and you probably shredded your shoes.” The tiny brunet (so small still, was his mother still forgetting to feed him? Or were they still missing people stealing his bento? Likely both - neither he nor Kyoya know exactly where Tsuna hides himself every lunch.) looks shocked at his kindness but cocks his head and accepts the jacket and the hug he’s then wrapped in for a few seconds.

“Yamamoto-kun?” He winces. Still doesn’t remember? “Why? And Hayami-chan didn’t want to hurt me, and she wouldn’t have. She needed to test me for something … you don’t need to be involved in.”

He still sweeps the too-light boy up and starts walking away. “By the way, Gokudera, I suggest you do something about that ‘red’ mood of yours. Maybe try some sushi after school and club activities? Takesushi is the best in three prefectures, at family restaurant prices. Try there. It’s very … relaxing.” The pretty girl who had just attacked his best friend nodded.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then, Tsuna-kun? My uncle has me on a half-day schedule today. Again, I’m sorry about that.” He turns and stares.

“I was going to take Tsuna home, and then go home myself. If you’re leaving now, try sushi for lunch. Don’t want to be walking around town in that mood. You’ll either be bitten to death or the Committee will want a word.” Another nod, and they walk their separate ways.

“Yamamoto-kun? I can walk.” He glares down at his once-friend.

“Oh no you don’t, Tsuna. You’re not walking home with shredded shoes and likely scalded feet. I’m bringing you home before you make things worse and need to see a doctor. Wet rags and a nice night’s sleep will make those feet right as Rain.”

“Yamamoto-kun? Don’t make things too hard on her?” His bundle is almost asleep, like the first few times he used that fire when they were kids. “She’s nice. Doesn’ call’m Dame …” And he’s out.

By the time he’s set Tsuna on his bed and locked the house up after himself using the key he still keeps on him at all times but hasn’t used since they were five, Kyōya is sneaking in through the window. They nod at each other, and he walks home for that chat with Gokudera, their new Storm.

* * *

“Why, Gokudera? Why attack a Sky? My Sky, Kyōya’s Sky, the Sky you’re starting to Bond with!” They’re sat in the living room above the shop, the sushi sampler and a pot of tea between them. She looks shell-shocked.

“You’re already a Guardian? How? When?”

“Since always. I don’t remember a time where ‘Tsu-tan’ _wasn’t_ my Sky. It was me, and then Kyōya when we were four, and there was a redhead who was so close to being our Sun before he disappeared; I still see him around, and Kyōya says he goes to Yuumei Private Academy on the other side of town, and is suffering from Bond Deprivation. But with Tsuna … not right, there’s nothing we can do about that. Kyōya said whatever you were doing would help him, might let him remember us, but isn’t there a better way? A way that doesn’t involve that sucking emptiness and fighting?”

Instead of answering, she asks another question. “Tsuna-kun knows how to fight, doesn’t he? And use his Flames? So why is he Inactive?”

“Tsu-tan got sick the spring before his sixth birthday. When he came back to school he didn't remember me, or Kyōya, or Flames. He’s always cold now, and clumsy, and people started calling him Dame-Tsuna; before he got sick he was capable and confident, popular, bright. I have to fake my grades just to stay where I can protect him; Kyōya has my real grades.”

“Who trained him, and taught you Flame-lore? And Kyōya is?” Another question. His annoyance must have shown on his face at that, because, “I promise, this is either the last or one of the last questions.”

“If you’re familiar with the Flame Underworld, you may recognise my father. He trained me. Kyōya and Tsuna were trained by Kyōya’s ojisan. Small, toddler-sized, wears a lot of red, fairly famous. Long braid. Martial artist.”

“ _Fon_?! That explains his skill and the strength of his Cloud. From what I can tell, your Sky was Sealed. This was _not_ in the information. Now, as for why I was called. Reborn -” he hisses at the name; Fon and his father had both warned him away from the Sun Arcobaleno “- was sent to draw Tsuna Active and train him to be the next Vongola Don. If he was Sealed, my Zio can probably unSeal him; he prefers being Dr. Shamal Lanza more than Trident Shamal. He prefers to heal, not fight. I suspect your Sky is the same. Tell your Cloud that anyone looking for Trident Shamal or Belladonna Falco should be bitten to death, please.Now, questions?”

He stares a bit longer; Trident Shamal is a legend, and if anyone can undo a … “ _SEALED_!? Sealing is taboo for a reason. It is only to be used for either restraining the worst criminals or as capital punishment for a Sky! Who Sealed him? If it was the Vongola then by Vindice laws he is ours. Asari or Hibari, it’s Tsu-tan’s choice. The Vongla have no more claim on him. Let me reintroduce myself. I am Asari no Yamamoto Takeshi, heir to the Asari Clan and Sword and son of the Rain Swallow, kendoist by preference and baseball player by necessity.” He knows his eyes are hawk-sharp, his smile deadly.

As if called by his sudden spike in killing intent, his tou-san walks into the room. “Takeshi-kun? What’s going on?”

He looks at his father, turns on his knees, and bows. “Otou-sama, I wish to take up the sword once more. My Sky has been wronged, and those who have wronged him come to claim him once more. This is my Will: to protect Tsuna, to allow him to make a free choice, with his own Will. To wash away the efforts of those who would take that from him.” At his tou-san’s look at the pretty girl behind him, he blushes; he can’t help it. “This is Gokudera Hayami, called Belladonna Falco by those who hunt her. She is my Sky’s potential Storm.”

“Then, musuko, withdraw yourself and your Sky from phys-ed classes. It’s time I teach both of you once again. Hayami-chan, you are more than welcome to join us. Welcome to Namimori.”

“Thank you, Rain Swallow.”

“Tsuyoshi, please. You are a potential Element to my son’s Sky.” His father smiles. “And a Gokudera as well, if I am not mistaken. Our families have been friends since the days of Sawada Ieyasu.”

“Thank you, Tsuyoshi-san. Please treat me kindly. I’d love to join you.”


	4. Target 3: The Seal and the Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Seal removed, the Sun returns.

He’d thought today would be better; He’d woken on his own, not electrocuted, or hit with a hammer, or with an airhorn in his ears. He managed to make his way to school without being bullied or shot at or embarrassed. He even made it all the way to homeroom without anything bad happening. Then something happened. He’s Dame-Tsuna; did he really expect things would go well all day?

“Sawada Tsunayoshi, Gokudera Hayami, and Yamamoto Takeshi of class 1A to the Disciplinary Committee office. Sawada, Gokudera, and Yamamoto of 1A to the Disciplinary Committee office.” The voice over the PA system sounds almost gleeful. He’s mortified and frozen, but Yamamoto-kun - still as gentle and friendly and familiar as he was yesterday after that ‘test’ - takes him by the shoulders and walks him out of class.

“Kyōya wouldn’t ever hurt you, Tsuna, any more than I would. We can’t.” The tallest of the three turns to Hayami-chan. “Your uncle? Is he going to do something?”

“He’s going to try. It might take a while, but he should be able to at least tell us something. Reborn isn’t happy. He’s left Zio and Tsuyoshi-san in charge while he goes back to chew out the CEDeF moron and Vongola Nono. He should be landing in Italy in an hour or so. Tsuna-kun?”

“Hayami-chan? What’s going on?” The three of them stop, and Yamamoto-kun stands behind him, bracing him, while Hayami-chan stands in front of him.

“Tsuna-kun, my Zio - my uncle - is going to take a look at you. You’re very small for your age, and you have severe coordination and focus issues. We think something happened when you were nearly six, and if we’re right we might be able to reverse it over the next few days. If we’re lucky we can reverse it all today, but that’s not likely.” Hayami-chan looks deadly serious, and Yamamoto-kun’s grip on his shoulders tightens comfortingly.

“You mean I can stop being Dame?” Things get uncomfortable for a second, the two with him sharing a look.

“Come on, Tsuna, let’s get you to Lanza-sensei and Kyōya. Please don’t call yourself Dame. You’re not. Never were. You were popular once, you know.” They’re walking again, and he’s not falling on his face because he has people there, steadying him. “You had three good friends, and you had fun with them, and explored, and learned fun things. They burned a patch in your front yard, once, and I don’t think anything grows there still.”

Yamamoto-kun sounds fond. “Really? I can’t remember. Things go fuzzy before school that year. Mama said I got sick when Papa came to visit. How do you know I had friends?”

“Maybe you’ll remember one day. Here we go, Tsuna.”

* * *

The brat is tiny. So small, and thin, and shrinking in on himself. “Hello, Tsuna. I’m Dr. Lanza. Call me Shamal. We’re all here because of what my little hanabi thinks might be wrong with you. I’m going to put my hand on your forehead. You’ll feel warm and a little chilled, which might be a bit strange for you, but that’s normal.” The brat nods, and he hisses at what he senses. The Seal is like a taint in his Flames, clinging around the boy’s Core and flowing through every part of his body, and from what he’s seeing … bullets wouldn't have done a thing for this in the long term. “Okay, Tsuna, I can get all of this cleared up today, but it’s going to take the rest of the day. I’m going to have you sleep on this couch and when you wake up you’ll be feeling much clearer. Okay?”

“Okay. If it’ll … itai!” The boy claps his hand to his neck before slumping down, and the boy’s Rain rearranges him.

“That bad, Zio?” His little hanabi looks worried; she has good reason.

“You’re lucky we did this today. It would have killed him by next spring, if he didn’t kill himself in an accident first.” The kids Cloud _growls_ and stalks into the connecting room. There’s a short conversation in Chinese before he returns, looking satisfied.

“Ojisan is coming home. Will the little animal be ready to restart training in a month?”

“Should be. Now, whatever you three feel, don’t move your Sky, or touch him. This Seal was improperly applied as well as inappropriate for Active Flames. It’s moved on to at least the two boys, if not you, too, hanabi. I’m going to be removing it now, and then you can move him. May I suggest a large futon or the grass outside? Now get to know each other.”

* * *

He can hear familiar voices first, then the sharp, echoing clack of a deer scare and the falling-water sound of the fall that feeds it, the longer than normal timing also familiar in a distant sort of way. The lap under his head and the hand in his hair are familiar, too, and the only thing missing is the head pillowed on his stomach.

“Ngh … Keshi? Kyō? Where’s Shō-chan? Did he go -” He shoots upright. “Takeshi? Kyōya? You -” He remembers now. Everything the man with the Sky Flame on his finger burned away, everything he had taken from him, his father’s cheer about it all and the way he seemed to find scaring him witless funny, and he curls into Takeshi, crying.

“Shhh, Tsu-tan, we’re here. We never left. Do you remember the past few days?” At his nod, he feels a third hand, this one at his back. “That’s just Hayami. Your Storm. Do you remember that?”

“Yeah. Hayami-chan? Okaeri.” The hand on his back stills, then clenches as he opens his Sky to her.

“Are you sure, Tsuna-kun?” He nods, and she relaxes, weaving her Flames into his the way his Keshi and Kyō had so long ago, becoming his completely. “Tadaima, Tsuna. Thank you.” She rests against his back, cheek between his shoulder blades.

“Little animal, what was that about Shōichi?” It’s his turn to freeze as he realises what the old man has made him do.

“Shit! I was supposed to go talk to Sho-chan’s mom about him after _he_ left! What time is it?” He’s bolt upright again, trying to pull away from his Rain and Storm and Cloud, who keep him on the ground until he relaxes.

Kyōya laughs, a warm sound, one he didn’t think his Boundary Keeper knew how to make any more. “We have another half hour before Yuumei lets out, Tsu-tan. If we leave then, we’ll get to Shōichi’s just minutes after he does. Now, we’ve all eaten, but I don’t think you have at all today. Haha-ue made your favorite.”

As he bites into the pork steamed bun, he sees his Kyō smile that soft smile he’s not seen since that last day in the forest, and it seems, for a while, like everything is okay.

* * *

He rings the doorbell, and an unassuming girl with long dark brown hair looks down at them. “Yeah?”

“Umm...I’m looking for Irie Tomoko and Shōichi?” The girl stares down at them a few seconds longer, then turns away and yells.

“Shōichi! Some brats are looking for you!”

As she walks back into the apartment, he hears complaining and then the sort of moan that makes him think his Shō-chan has been working himself into painful anxiety again, and his stomach clenches in sympathy. Then he sees the edge of glasses and a bit of red hair and his heart freezes. Shō-chan is barely his size, and he knows he’s too small. Then there’s a gasp, and green eyes widen, and his Shō-chan falls to the ground. “Tsu-tan? Tsu-tan is that really you?” The little redhead scrambles up and launches himself at him, furious. “How dare you come here! Nine years, Sawada Tsunayoshi! _Nine fucking years_! What the _fuck_ gives you the right to come waltzing back like nothing happened!?” Shō-chan is crying and screaming, barely held back by Takeshi, his Rain, their Buffer, letting Shōichi bleed out his pain. “You promised, Tsu-tan. Promised to come get me, to talk to Kaa-san, to reassure her you weren’t going to use me up and throw me away, but you only proved her right in her own mind.”

He walks up to his brilliant Sun slowly and Shō-chan falls into his arms. “Shhh, Shō-chan, I have you now. Not letting you go now. I was taken away, and made to forget the Flames and my friends, and it’s been nine years of being Dame-Tsuna and the haze and not knowing I was ever anything, anyone else.”

A sharp hiss follows his words, and he looks up to see Irie Tomoko, his Shōichi’s mother, looking as furious as her son had. “Who dared Seal an Active Sky? An innocent child? I may be a Null, but my father taught me well. It’s Taboo for a reason.”

“The Vongola overstep their bounds, and now come seeking to steal what they threw away. Whether they succeed is up to our Sky.” Kyōya - unflappable Kyōya - startles at the wave of searing Sun that bursts from the little redhead in Takeshi's arms.

“How dare they! I’ll kill them myself!” Despite Takeshi's incredulous cough Shō-chan continues his rant. “I’ll build something to kill them all with! I’ll send it to Sicily and kill anyone who even mentions taking Tsuna from Namimori! He’s _ours_ and they threw him away, and they dare come barging back in to take him away! I -” Sho-chan folds abruptly, Takeshi just barely managing to catch him. A quick head shake is echoed by his Keshi and shock ripples through the Bond.

“My son is brilliant, isn’t he? Flame converter. He charges it, it turns his Sun into any other single type. Instant Rain. We use it to make him sleep. Maybe now we won’t need to. I’ll tell his father he was accepted into a special program for his inventions, and I doubt Akiko will even remember this in an hour. Go, spend time with him. He needs to be around his Sky. Just have him call me once in a while?” She presses a kiss to his Sun’s forehead. “Send someone around tomorrow and we’ll pack his things up. Tsuna-kun, go grab him some clothes and his laptop?” Irie-san herds him off to what must be his brilliant little Sun’s bedroom - he’d felt the full Bond blaze into place already entwined when Shō-chan’s Flames Raged.

“You’re taking this well, Irie Tomoko-san.” Too well. He’s a bit confused.

“I never intended to say no. I just wanted to see if you actually wanted him or his mind. The fact that you came back as soon as you remembered and immediately focused on my son instead of what he’s been doing and making means you won’t use him. Treat him well, Tsuna-kun, and I won’t have any reason to be angry with you.”

He looks at her kind eyes and says the words he’d been planning to say all those years ago. “I’d die, Irie-san, before I would let him hurt himself, let alone let anyone else hurt him. He needs to be taken care of, and I want to take care of him.”

He can see her understand immediately.

And when they all make it back to Kyōya’s place, his mother feeds them dinner and leads them to a room with one giant futon and many blankets, Shō-chan already asleep on it, and they all fall into a pile. He hasn’t felt this safe since he was five. He sleeps curled against his Rain, head pillowed on his Cloud’s stomach, Shō-chan between him and his Storm.


	5. Target 4: Disillusions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Intelligence reports come in; Kyōya loses his cool.

It had been a week since Tsuna and Shōichi had started living at the Hibari complex full-time. When her Zio had gone to inform Nana-san that her son needed to be under observation, the woman had been insistent that there was nothing wrong with her son. It had taken Shamal three hours to remove the numerous compulsions and illusions from the poor woman, and when he was done, she still was creepily insistent that her son was just useless, not sick. After all, her husband, she had said, had assured her that boys were just lazy at Tsuna’s age. That had set off alarm bells. Everyone in Italy had assumed Nana was a temporary ‘wife’, just another woman who had taken Iemitsu up on his offer of housing and support in exchange for bearing and raising an heir for him. After all, the man never bragged about her, only the cute son she had given him, and a Sky at that!

After all, it’s an open secret that Iemitsu has five children, only two of whom are Mafia-bound. Well, one now. The rude little Rain who is being trained as his CEDeF successor is his only other Flame-bearing child; the rest are apparently Nulls. Or girls. No one is quite sure which.

Nana was insistent that ‘her Iemitsu’ had married her, loved her, and refused to be persuaded otherwise. Now, though, she finally has a thick folder of evidence, and she is just thanking the information dealer who had obtained it and expressed it over. “Thank you, Viper. Yes, excellent, swift work as always. I’ll be sure to mention this to Tsuyoshi-san for the next time Mammon, and Belphegor of the VARIA stop by. Yes, of course. Anything that will not compromise my own Sky’s right to privacy and ability to choose his own path. Of course, I’m sure he would be delighted to speak with you and the Right Hand about your Sky’s return. I’ll let you know when and we can discuss rumours then. Of course. Ciao.” She turns to her Sky and switches from Italian to Japanese. “It turns out he never actually married her, Tsuna-kun. Not even one of his horrible little contracts. He has no rights to you by civilian or Underworld law, save any you allow him.”

Her Sky melts, sinking to the ground in obvious relief, that brilliant smile that makes her melt on his face, as Reborn looks on. “Oh, good. And with what you told me about Xanxus-san, there’s someone who can take over.” The adorable little brunet is still smiling, but shaking, and she gives in to the urge to hug him. “What did Viper-san say about Xanxus-san?”

She shuffles through the papers until she reaches Xanxus’ report and smiles, and it’s as sharp as any assassin’s. “He’s not Nono’s. It looks like dear old dad was covering up his Heir’s indiscretions. He’s Enrico’s, not that Xanxus knew that. Enrico might not have even known. Congratulations, Tsuna-kun, you are officially not the first in line to inherit, and it looks like Nono and Iemitsu both knew that. Attempted line theft via manipulation. Two counts. Another crime on their shoulders.”

“Two?” She absently hands him the top sheet, and he studies it intently before he sees it. “Mama is a descendant too?” Reborn snatches the sheet out of Tsuna’s hand and sees the same thing she did.

“And look at this, technically a generation closer to Ieyasu and firstborn to firstborn. Most of them were daughters, including Ieyasu’s firstborn, but at this point, it’s one more thing we can stick on their lists. You’re sure you don’t want to take over, Tsunayoshi?” The Sun Arcobaleno came back from Italy fuming and took she and Tsuna-kun aside for six hours. When they came out of Kyōya’s study, the cursed hitman looked both satisfied and disappointed, but accepted that Tsuna-kun will never accept being forced into being Decimo. That he doesn’t want to be Mafia, even knowing what they do for the people who look to them. Reborn is more than satisfied that his newest student’s desires lay in Japan; that his objections aren’t in managing people - that indeed he is quite good at it and more than willing - but in uprooting his life, in moving his precious people to a place he’d barely known existed in more than an abstract to take over an empire of people he’d likely never care about like he would his Cloud’s people and his town’s residents.

“Mm. I just want to be left alone, but I know that for now, I need to be involved. We need more than the bare bones of a plan, and until then we need to look like you’re teaching me. And the skills will be useful, even if I never use them they way the Ninth intends me to.”

She looks at Tsuna-kun, going over more account books for the Committee. She’d learned, over the past week, that her Sky learns best not by being thrown into things, or by rote, but by actually learning _as_ he applies the skills, crossing subjects as they’d come up in real life; the separation of subjects just confuses the fluffy brunet. Going over the records and accounts for his Cloud’s Committee helps him make sense of what he should have been learning in any half-decent school. Maybe a trade high school or an apprenticeship would be best for her Tsuna-kun. She goes over the thick folder at her own table, sorting files by importance and relevance, sneaking glances at Tsuna-kun; he’s so cute when he’s focused on something. The majority of this will go to their Cloud, some to her Zio, some to Tsuyoshi-san and Fon-san, and the rest she and Tsuna-kun would need to talk about with Nana-san and with their Set. The packet had cost a fortune and a half in concessions alone, and another small fortune in cash, but the Hibari had been more than willing to pay for the information that would only help their Heir and his Sky.

“Good, Tsunayoshi. You’re doing much better. Let’s leave that there for today. I have it on good authority that Don Cavallone will be here tomorrow, so let’s go over the etiquette for receiving a visiting company head.” She puts the last of the files into its proper box and pulses her Flames gently, prompting Tsuna-kun to pulse his in the call for a meeting. Takeshi-kun enters their shared office almost before Tsuna-kun’s Flames settle, having already been on his way in with lunch.

“Maa, maa, Tsu-tan. You didn’t need to do that. Remember, I’m the only one here today! Are we learning something fun?”

* * *

He’s texting the tailor about this afternoon’s final fitting for their formal outfits for the Cavallone Don’s upcoming visit when Sawada Nana’s little clone comes up and has the nerve to ask where his Sky is.

“I don’t see why it should matter to you. None of you _herbivores_ showed the least bit of concern for him before.” The girl is annoying, as oblivious as his Sky’s mother, and apparently too stupid to see that he’s busy. “But as you asked, and seem to have hands in every gossip circle this school has, I suppose I can tell you. The Little Animal is recovering from an illness caused by damage done to him by his father when he was five. It caused coordination, focus, and memory issues and minor, reversible damage to his brain. If anyone had known about the issue, it could have been easily fixed, but Sawada Nana refused to think anything was wrong and hadn’t brought him to a doctor at all since he was three.”

There’s a harsh intake of breath, but he ignores it, ploughing on. “Kindly take this information and spread it. Let all the herbivores know that my best friend had memory loss and forgot everything before he was hurt, and they were all bullying a victim of parental abuse and neglect. That not only was he impaired, but his mother rarely actually bothered to make food for more than herself, let alone a child over the age of five.”

He takes a breath of his own, conscious of the way the pitch of his voice was rising and the way his words were starting to tumble over each other. “Those stolen lunches were sometimes the only food he would have gotten all day.” He lets that sink into their stupid herbivorous heads. “Sometimes those lunches were made by others, like Yamamoto Tsuyoshi or my own mother, and Tsuna was too tired, too hungry, too hurt, too unfocused to realise that he had left home without lunch and one had been substituted.”

“Every cut, bruise, sprain, cracked rib was ignored by his family. No one kissed his injuries or bandaged him at ‘home’.” He spits the word; Tsuna’s home had been no such thing. “That his injuries were sometimes so bad that he didn’t realise he had been taken to someone else’s home to be treated; none of us are sure _exactly_ how many broken bones he’s had. Or that if Yamamoto Takeshi and I hadn’t been looking out for him, there would be a tiny grave in the cemetery that may or may not have even borne his name.”

The herd is absolutely silent, hanging on his words, terrified, and he allows his voice to soften in a manipulative and Misty way. “You have nearly killed him more than once. Perhaps that grave would have contained the ashes of a nine-year-old boy who had starved to death. Or maybe he would have been ten and taken out to the woods where he would be found after the high schoolers were done with him.” He reads the horror in the younger Sasagawa’s eyes, the knowledge of what he meant in that statement, and feels vindicated.

“Or he’d have been eleven and pushed off the cliff above the harbour, and not pulled from the water in time, because there was no one willing to see or help him. Or maybe he would have died just last month when one of Mochida Kensuke’s crowding idiot herbivores pushed him down the outside stairs. Because if Takeshi had been anywhere else, Tsuna would have fallen two and a half stories onto the flowerbed. He would have died in front of me.” The girl is white, shaking, tears falling down her face. 

He looks up from the weak herbivore at the rest of the now swollen herd; he estimates that it must be close to two-thirds of the school, and for once he doesn't mind the pathetic crowding of the herbivores that insist on infesting his territory. “Maybe now he can walk through the shopping area without falling or being tripped. Maybe now he can walk through the halls of this school without needing to be followed by one of my Committee. Maybe now Takeshi can stop failing just so he can protect the one person who never needed him to be anyone but himself. Maybe now I won’t need to control an entire school just so one boy, my first friend, my best friend, won’t be killed by mere children for something he never should have had to deal with.”

He turns and walks away. He needs his Sky. He needs to know that those incidents hadn’t happened, that he and Takeshi had stopped each potential death, that Tsuna is alive and safe and in his home where he belongs, where he can come back to his warm smiles every day.

* * *

He stares at Kyōya in horror. “Oh, Kyōya, you didn’t! Tell me you didn’t just lose your patience and tell the entire student body about Tsuna before we even told him!” His friend and fellow Tsuna-protector just makes a 'Hn' sound, and he facepalms.

“What’s this about me?” That bright, cheerful voice, so welcome, so familiar but so new, makes his heart sink.

“Tsu-tan, sweetheart, come sit with us. Kyōya and I need to tell you about … well, everything. Everything we’ve done while you couldn’t protect yourself.” He fails in his impulse control - again - and picks up his still too light Sky. This is going to be a hard, draining story, and he flares his Flames, calling everyone to what will turn out to be a cuddle-pile. He hates seeing his Tsu-tan cry.


End file.
